No bake chocolate peanut butter protein balls are one of the easiest high-protein snacks you can make. Most basic recipes use nothing but – you guessed it – peanut butter and chocolate protein powder.
I remember trying that once – kneading chocolate whey into peanut butter because a bodybuilding magazine told me to. I wasn’t impressed. It was missing something.
This version includes a few additional ingredients that make them richer, better textured, and more satisfying – not too gooey, not too dry. They’re perfect for a high-protein snack or even a quick meal on the go.
Ingredients For Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls
Although chocolate whey protein powders have a strong flavor, the cocoa makes it even more chocolatey, so it’s an ingredient well worth including.
The oatmeal adds some healthy carbs and fiber.
The version with coconut is extremely tasty, but keep in mind that adds even more calories.
The honey is a natural sweetener, but more important, it’s part of the “glue” that sticks together the dry ingredients.
Because honey is a sweetener, and most chocolate protein powders are also sweetened, these are quite good without any other sweetener, but adding two packets of stevia or other non-caloric sweetener brings the taste up to the next level.
How To Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls
Speaking of dry ingredients, since we don’t use a lot of honey, you’ll have to “mix and mash” for everything to stick together. First mix all the ingredients in the bowl. Then mash them down with a large spoon or a spatula.
At first it may seem like everything is still too dry and or even powdery, but keep patiently kneading and mashing everything down, and you’ll see the peanut butter and honey take in the dry ingredients, and it all starts to congeal. Once it does, you’re ready to form the protein balls.
I’ve been told that a cookie scoop works well, but I didn’t have one, or need one. I used my hands, which worked great. Apply plenty of pressure – really squeeze – and everything will stick together nicely.
If it appears the ingredients are not coming together to your satisfaction (or if you form your protein balls but when eating them later you find them too dry, or they fall apart after you bite into them), you can add a bit more liquid when mashing everything together.
Water works fine. Use skim milk if you prefer. Use only one teaspoon at a time and continue to mix and press the ingredients down into the bowl before seeing if you want to add another teaspoon. If you add too much liquid, it gets gooey (messy to eat). When you get it just right, the consistency is more like clay. Of course, you could add more peanut butter or honey, but then you’re adding more calories.
Scaling The Batch And Serving Size
The amount of ingredients listed here works well, but feel free to tweak the portions of dry or wet ingredients to get the consistency you like best.
Naturally of course you can scale up the batch ingredients if you want to make these in bulk. The serving size is really up to you. I made four servings and each was about the size of a golf ball or slightly larger.
By the way, you can customize serving sizes for any official Burn the Fat recipe with a couple clicks in the Burn the Fat Inner Circle meal planner software. Just search on Burn the Fat approved recipes, change the number of servings, and then save as one of your custom recipes. (Meal planner software is part of our Inner Circle membership)
Nutrition Facts And Macros For The Batch And Each Protein Ball
For the entire batch of ingredients, the nutritional values are: 399 calories, 45.2g protein, 56g carbs and 21.6g fat. Those are decent macros for standard meal in a high-protein fat loss meal plan, so if you ate all 4 servings at once, you could call it a meal. If you had 2, you could call that snack or dessert and still get a 22 gram boost to your daily protein intake.
You can eat these right away, or refrigerate them first (they’re great chilled). Store them in an airtight container or plastic bag for later use.
If you don’t mind the extra calories, adding coconut makes this a real treat. I usually mix it right in with all the other ingredients, but for presentation, you could also roll the balls in coconut to coat the outside.
When you add 1/2 cup shredded/flaked coconut, the whole batch of ingredients clocks in at 730 calories, 47 grams of protein, 64 grams of carbs, and 41.5 grams of fat.
With coconut, the per serving macros are:
Calories: 183
Protein: 11.8 g
Carbs: 16 g
Fat: 10.4 g
The coconut takes these from great to positively decadent, but do make a note of those calories. Coconut may be a healthy food, but like peanut butter and honey, it’s not a low-calorie food.
This is such a neat recipe because you don’t need a food processor, you don’t have to bake these, and it’s a portable food you can take with you anywhere you go.
Once you get hooked on these, you might not even eat commercial protein bars again – they’re that good!
Until next time,
-Tom Venuto,
Author, Burn the Fat Guide To Meal Prep For Fat Loss
Author, Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle – “The Bible Of Fat Loss”
Looking for more protein dessert recipes? Browse the full collection on our protein desserts main page
Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls
Ingredients
- 32 g Peanut butter (2 Tbsp)
- 25 g Chocolate whey protein (1/3 cup)
- 40 g Old fashioned oats (oatmeal) (1/2 cup)
- 21 g Honey, pure (1 Tbsp)
- 5 g Unsweetened cocoa (1 Tbsp)
- 2 tsp Water (or skim milk, as needed)
- 2 packets Sweetener (Stevia, Truvia, Splenda, etc)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a medium or large bowl.
- Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.
- Mash the ingredients together by pressing down with a large spoon or spatula.
- If the ingredients remain too dry or powdery, add a teaspoon at a time of water (or skim milk) to get the desired consistency.
- Once most of the ingredients have congealed into a clay-like consistency, form them into balls with your hands.
- Compress the balls tightly in your hands so they completely stick together (and won't fall apart when you bite into them).
- Eat right away, or put in refrigerator to cool.
- Store in a sealed container or ziplock bag for future use.
Nutrition
This recipe is just one part of a complete fat loss nutrition system. My Meal Prep For Fat Loss guide shows you how to batch cook macro-balanced meals and desserts for the whole week, so you stay lean without spending your life in the kitchen. See The Meal Prep System Here
About Tom Venuto
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilding and fat loss coach with 35 years of experience. He holds a degree in exercise science and has trained hundreds of clients in person and thousands online. He is also a recipe creator specializing in fat-burning, muscle-building cooking.
A former competitive bodybuilder, Tom is now a full-time evidence-based fitness writer, blogger, and author. His classic book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is an international bestseller, first as an ebook and later as a hardcover and audiobook. He is also the author of Meal Prep For Fat Loss, a practical guide to smart shopping, batch cooking, and kitchen strategies that make healthy eating simple and sustainable.
Tom’s work has been featured in Men’s Fitness, Oprah Magazine and dozens of other major publications. He is best known for his no-BS, scientific approach to natural fat loss and muscle-building.
Tom is also the founder of Burn the Fat Inner Circle, a fitness support community with more than 59,000 members worldwide since 2006.
Yum.